July 7, 2014

Bellezza mentioned Tiffany & Co. as a good example of a company executing the policy outlined in her and Keinan’s report. Some store locations offer side entrances and private viewing rooms to physically separate the élite shoppers from those looking to purchase a seventy-five-dollar Heart Tag Charm. The core Tiffany users, Bellezza says, are therefore defined by their access to privileged retail space, while the company can still grant a degree of access to the masses without tarnishing the brand. In 2013, the Luxury Institute, a research and consulting firm, conducted a survey that revealed that Tiffany was the jewelry brand most widely purchased by American women with a minimum net worth of five million dollars.

As Amy Merrick noted in April, Burberry recovered from its overexposure problem. Following the arrival of Angela Ahrendts as its C.E.O., in 2006, (who has since left for Apple), Burberry began scaling back its licensing agreements and removing its signature check from about ninety per cent of its items. A sense of sustainability has returned, thanks to a clear balance of insiders enjoying their cachet and outsiders looking in.